All Christians are asked by their faith to preach the Good News of Jesus Christ to the world by words and deeds It is always appropriate for Dominicans to speak on preaching.
Our dear Father and Founder St. Dominic de Guzman was above all a preacher: St. Dominic the preacher was never sacrificed to St. Dominic the founder and organizer (Simon Tugwell OP). “Dominic didn’t want only that his brothers preach, but rather that they be preachers” (ACG, 2019, n. 123). Preaching is the identity of the Dominican brothers and sisters, their “identity tag” (RFP, 106). We are asked to give “absolute priority to the ministry of preaching” (ACP, 2017, 55). Hence, the purpose of all formation – initial as well as permanent – is “the making of a Dominican preacher” (RFG, 1). Thus, every Dominican identifies himself or herself with the words of St. Paul: Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel (1 Cor 9:16).
I am offering hereafter my personal reflection on Dominican preachers and missionaries of the Dominican Provence of Our Lady of the Rosary and their challenges today. First, I reflect on mission; second, on missionaries; third, on the priority of mission and missionaries, and fourth, on some challenges today.
- MISSION TODAY
In the year of 2019 the Church commemorated the centenary of the missionary encyclical of Benedict XV Maximum Illud. For this reason, Pope Francis launched the October 2019 Extraordinary Missionary Month with the theme: “Baptized and sent: the Church of Christ on mission in the world.” Radically, for the purpose to revive the missionary awareness and commitment of the whole Church (Message for the 2019 World Mission Day). In that pace-setting encyclical, Pope Benedict xv proposed an appreciation of cultural differences, a separation between the Church’s work and political alliances, and the need to develop the resources of local churches — an indigenous priesthood and episcopacy — once the foreign missionaries withdrew. As he wrote: “… the Catholic missionary is a messenger of Christ, not the ambassador of his own nation.”
After Jesus prepared well the apostles, after his resurrection and just before ascending into heaven, the Risen Lord gave the great commission, the ultimate mandate to the apostles: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations” (Mt 28:16). “Each one of us is a prolongation of that missionary moment in which Jesus entrusted to us the inheritance of the Gospel” - evangelium (Jesus Sanz Montes, October 2019). Hence, the mission of the Church is evangelization: the proclamation of the Gospel or the Good News, of the Kingdom of God, of the liberation of all, that is, “the liberation from everything that oppresses man, but which is above all liberation from sin and the Evil one” (Paul VI, Evangelii Nuntiandi, 9).
Before Vatican II, mission was mainly understood as evangelization of non-Christians. Missionaries were sent to announce Christ where he was not known, or not sufficiently known, and the Church was not implanted. It was, above all, missio ad gentes.
Vatican II says: “The pilgrim church is missionary by her very nature” Decree Ad Gentes, AG 2). “Evangelizing is in fact the grace and vocation proper to the Church, her deepest identity” (John Paul II, Redemptoris Missio, RM, 14). Her mission is evangelization, which comprises preaching the word, communicating divine life through the sacraments, and the witnessing of charity.
After Vatican II, missio ad gentes is also – more explicitly - missio inter gentes, which underlines not only proclamation, but also dialogue and solidarity with the poor. Evangelization is directed to all peoples, and in three different situations or settings: continuing ordinary pastoral ministry” (EG, 63), re-evangelization of “the baptized whose lives do not reflect the demands of Baptism” (Benedict XVI, 2012), and the missio ad gentes ( “those who do not know Christ or who have always rejected him” - EG, 15; cf. John Paul II, RM, 33; AG, 6). The center of preaching the Gospel is Jesus Christ, “who was crucified, died and is risen” – and lives (RM, 44). From the first day of his pontificate, Pope Leo XIV underlines repeatedly that the Church is a missionary Church and her essential mission is preaching Christ.
In all settings of evangelization, the significant and growing participation of the laity is put forward. Pope Francis underlines “the evangelizing power of popular piety” (EG, 122-126). Iin his pace-setting encyclical Laudato si’ (2015), Pope Francis stresses integral ecology, and the need to defend the poor and their natural environment.
Pope John Paul II writes in Redemptoris Missio: “To say that the whole Church is missionary, does not preclude the existence of a specific mission ad gentes, ‘life-long missionaries ad gentes’’” (RM, 32; cf. Ibid 31-40). He adds: “The especial vocation of missionaries ‘for life’ retains all its validity: it is the model of the Church’s missionary commitment” (RM 66).
In Asian context, Pope John Paul II stressed the promotion of religious and cultural values dear to the peoples of Asia, such as, respect for life, compassion for all beings, closeness to nature, filial piety towards parents, elderly and ancestors, and a highly developed sense of community (John Paul II,Ecclesia in Asia, 6). Pope Francis urges mission ad gentes: “Today, too, the Church needs men and women, by virtue of their baptism, respond generously to the call to leave behind home, family, country, language and local Church, and to be sent forth to the nations, to a world not yet transformed by the sacraments of Jesus Christ and his holy Church” (Message, 2019World Mission Day).
The Dominican missionary Province, the Province of Our Lady of the Rosary underlines internationality and interculturality. Missionaries - as Christians, as religious men and women - proclaim the word of God in different countries, situations and settings (cf. RM, 32), in what was called previously “mission lands” or territories” or “missions.” Interesting what the capitulars of a Provincial Chapter say on interculturality as “a new art and way of living together.” The specific and proper note of our interculturality in the nations where the Province is present is to be aware of the pastoral guidelines of the local Church and to engage in inter-religious dialogue and option for the poor” (ACPA17, 93). We respect the peoples’ fidelity to their native land, people, and national culture (RM 43; cf. GS 53; RM 52-54). Certainly, Christian faith has different cultural forms of expressing itself, and thus is enriched (cf. John Paul II, Novo Millenio Ineunte 40; cf. Ecclesia in Asia 21).
Quoting Pope Benedict XV, Pope Francis notes very cogently that all peoples and persons are called by Jesus to be saved. Therefore, the universality of salvation: God wants the salivation of all, and Jesus died for all. The universality of salvation is a call “for an end to all forms of nationalism and ethnocentrisms, or the merging of the preaching of the Gospel with the economic and military interests of colonial powers. In his Apostolic Letter Maximum Illud, Pope Benedict XV noted that the Church’s universal mission requires setting aside exclusive ideas of membership in one’s own country and ethnic group. The opening of the culture and the community to the salvific newness of Jesus Christ requires leaving behind every kind of undue ethnic and ecclesial introversion” (Pope Francis, Message for 2019 Mission World Day).
- MISSIONARIES
Christian life is centered on “living with Christ,” on becoming “another Christ” today – and always. Living in Christ means basically a filial, fraternal and charismatic life. It is, furthermore, a “life in mission”: “As the Father sent me I also send you” (Jn 20:21). The spirituality of the Christian is also a missionary spirituality, that is, a spirituality “to live the mystery of Christ as sent” (John Paul II, RM, 88). Christ is “the heart” of catechesis and evangelization (cf. CCC 426-429), including preaching.
All the baptized in the Blessed Trinity, the people of God - priests, religious and lay faithful - are missionaries, “agents of evangelization” (Pope Francis, EG, 120). Our life is “a singular missionary journey of discipleship,” a process of “gradual configuration in Christ” (RFIS 87). Pope Francis says powerfully: “I am a mission, always; you are a mission, always; every baptized man and woman is a mission… This mission is part of our identity as Christians” (Message, 2019 World Mission Day).
Among all the missionaries, some are called with “a special vocation” (AG, 23; RM 65; cf. AG 23-27): to be missionaries ad gentes, that is to be called and sent “to those who are far from Christ,” which implies a commitment to an evangelization that “involves the missionary’s whole person and life, and demands a self-giving, without limits of energy or time” (RM 65). The missionary is never an intruder, but universal brother, man/woman of charity, person of the Beatitudes (RM 89), holy, contemplatives in action (RM 90-91; Ecclesia in Asia, 23). He or she has been given a unique vocation and a consequent commitment. John Paul II advises: “They should not allow themselves to be daunted by doubts, misunderstanding, rejection or persecution” (RM 66).
Christianity is not – should not be – identified with any specific culture. It can enter into any and all cultures. Different cultural expressions of Christian faith enrich this faith. What matters most in every place and region and the whole world is that Christ is the same yesterday, today and always, and that the same Christ is the center in all cultural expressions. I remember the verses of John Oxenham poem:
In Christ there is no East or West,
In him no South or North,
But one great fellowship of love
Throughout the whole wide earth.
In Christ now meet both East and West
In him meet South and North,
All Christy souls are one in him,
Throughout the whole wide earth.
(Quoted from W. Barclay, In Luke 8:19-21)
Important point for us: The Church is an evangelizer, but she begins by being evangelized herself (RM, 15). I need to be evangelized by you, my brothers. And we all need to cooperate with each other. Certainly, there have been failures and things poorly done in our mission and by missionaries, but overall and by far, evangelization, the Gospel has been and continues to be a very positive instrument of humanization and liberation in the world. Still, we always need to be converted, to renew ourselves, to strengthen our relationships with God, with one another, with the poor. We also need for ourselves - and to preach to others -, ecological conversion.
- PRIORITY: WITNESSING
Christ did not save us through his verbal preaching but through his passion, death and resurrection. Thus, the witness of a Christian life is the first and irreplaceable form of mission (RM 42). Let me recall the well-known and repeated words of Pope Paul VI: “Modern man listens more willingly to witnesses than to teachers, and if the does listen to teachers, it is because they are witnesses” (EN 41: cf. RM 42; Ecclesia in Asia 42; John Paul II, Ex Code Ecclesiae 22, 24, 49).
Pope Francis asked (October 1, 2019): “But how does one set about being a missionary? By living as witnesses: bearing witness by our lives that we have come to know Jesus.” The missionaries, in particular, are called to be martyrs if the situation arises.
All missionaries have to be explicit witnesses “of the saving love of the Lord” (EG, 121). They are witnesses of Christ, in the ecclesial community, and committed to justice, equal human rights of all peoples, peace, compassion, and the integrity of creation (cf. RM 37). The Argentine Pope says: This mission “makes us responsible for enabling all men and women to realize their vocation to be adoptive children of the Father, to recognize their personal dignity and to appreciate the intrinsic worth of every human life, from conception until natural death” (2019 Message World Mission Day,). A question I ask myself: Am I speaking credibly on the Church of the poor, on my obligatory option for the poor? (cf. RM, 60, 42, 53).
In some places, we cannot proclaim the Gospel by words. Then, we preach it by “silent witnessing,” the sounding silence of charity, service and praye. Illuminating words of Pope Benedict XVI: A Christian knows when it is time to speak and when it is better to say nothing and to let love alone speak (Deus Caritas Est 31). We remember the last words of Thomas Merton: “What we are asked to do today is not so much to talk of Christ but to let him live in us so that people may encounter him as living in us.” (The story of the French sister, whose greatest misery during her mission in an Arab country was not being able to shout “Jesus” to the four winds)
Certainly, we proclaim Jesus, and try hard to do it with passion, with passionate love for him and the people. John Paul II and Pope Francis have stressed continually the need of enthusiasm, and joy in proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus. Enthusiasm, is essential part of the evangelizing mission: preaching the Word with boldness, with enthusiasm, with passion, with fire – the fire of the Holy Spirit (cf. RM 45: Pope Francis, Gaudete et Exsultate, nos. 129-133). It means living our Christian lives with zeal, “a zeal for souls” (cf. RM 89). And with fervor. We remember the words of A. Saint-Exupery: “To be creative means to do things with fervor.”
Is it very hard to be a good missionary? Yes, but the One who called us and sent us will not leave us alone. We believe in him. He walks with us: “I am with you until the end of time” (Mt 28:26). Obviously, we need to pray always: in prayer and through prayer, we are evangelized and evangelize. A prayer that is linked to sacrifice – to the carrying of the Cross (cf. RM. 38, 87-91). In this context, Pope Francis asked us “to cultivate an interior space which can give a Christian meaning to commitment and activity.” He continues: “Without prolonged moments of adoration, of prayerful encounter with the word, of sincere conversation with the Lord, our work easily becomes meaningless; we lose energy as a result of weariness and difficulties, and our fervor dies out” (EG 262). Earlier, the Polish Pope had said: “Unless the missionary is a contemplative, he cannot proclaim Christ in a credible manner” (RM 91). Contemplari et contemplata aliis tradere!
- SOME CHALLENGES
In a world that seems to try hard to exile God from pubic, social and political life, preaching has become a very challenging endeavor today. Among the many challenges preachers and missionaries face today, I consider – personally – four challenges particularly relevant for us.
The first challenge has to do with the preparation of preachers: personal and communitarian preparation through the whole life. This ongoing preparation comprises technical, theological and spiritual preparation. Preaching is “sacr a praedicatio,” “sacra eloquentia” - sacred eloquence. Man’s wisdom may help but by itself – like all rational arguments - do not convert people to Christ. It is the wisdom and the power of the Spirit that moved Paul and all outstanding Christian preachers (cf. 1 Cor 2:1-10). Strong words from Pope Francis: A preacher who does not prepare is not ‘spiritual’; he is dishonest and irresponsible with the gifts he has received (EG, 145). Do I have sufficient motivation or passionate love for the Word of God and the people?
The second challenge has to do with our life, our Dominican life. Preaching alone cannot stand. It needs the inextricable company of fraternal life, prayer and study in every preacher so that he can continually grow in the knowledge of the truth, in divine grace, in his passionate and compassionate zeal for God and the people. Our good preaching is the effect of an authentic Dominican life, that is, a simple life that includes poverty. I ask myself: Does my vow of poverty have any real, substantial meaning and influence in my life? For us Dominicans, poverty is not only a vow but a way life: “Dominic had a supreme love for poverty for himself and for his Order” (Fray Paul of Venice). Pope Francis tells us that “poverty is the ‘mother’ and the ‘wall’ of apostolic life.” Do I live a simple style of life? Let us live simply so that others may simply live (Canadian Bishops). Constantly to be underlined: all formation is mainly continuing conversion and renewal, and not only or even mainly intellectual formation, which is indeed an essential dimension of integral formation; but so are, too, the human, spiritual, and pastoral dimensions. The four dimensions are essential for integral formation.
The third challenge is the so-called “digital world.” Our normative is clear on the matter, but how about its compliance? How about the technical preparation of the brothers from initial formation through continuing formation? When few people come to us to listen to our preaching, we ought to go to them, to where they are: in internet, online, X, Facebook, Instagram, etc. The Covid-19 pandemic made the use of communication technology more urgent and crucial. The competent knowledge of communication media for preaching has to accompany the good Dominican life of the preacher, which implies an ascending Dominican spirituality. And beware: Current and future preachers have to be truly aware of the possibility of technological addition, (a new tyrant), which is perhaps, sadly a reality here and there. Hence, the urgent need of moderation in the use of technology from initial formation onward.
The fourth challenge is very simple and refers to three well-known steps. Of course, to know the corresponding normative is the first step. The second step is to practice the normative on preaching: “To know and not to do is not yet to know” (Buddhist Saying). And the third and most radical step is to be an authentic Dominican for whom preaching is sustained by the tripod of fraternal life, prayer and study, and is directed to the salvation of the men and women of our time. Therefore, to preach well: to be, to know and to do. Our commitment to Veritas implies to know the truth of faith (orthodoxy), to preach the truth (eloquentia sacra) and to do the truth of life in love (orthopraxis). We remember the saying that we learned in our studentate: ex abundantia cordis loquitur lingua – “from the abundance of the heart, the tongue speaks”!
I close this section with a text I love since I was a novice, and which is the entrance antiphon in the Feast of our Father Dominic: How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of the messenger who announces peace, who brings good news, who proclaims salvation… (Is 52:7).
CONCLUSION
Just two final touches: one on Jesus, another on hope.
Jesus is the center of our preaching and missionary ministry. Jesus called us and sent us. We follow him (He is the Way) and share his life and his destiny. United to him with others who are also called (fraternal community), and sent (mission of evangelization), we preach the Good News (cf. John Paul II, Veritatis Splendor 19).
Jesus appeared to the disciples as the Risen Lord and told them - and us all: “You shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:18; cf. Acts 22:21; Mt 28:18-19).
The preachers and missionaries are persons of charity. They are servants and ministers of hope. The mission of evangelization is also prophetic and scatological proclamation. It gives hope:
The future of humanity is in the hands of those who are strong enough to provide coming generations with reasons for living and hoping (GS 31; cf. EN 28).
Mary Our Lady, the first preacher and missionary, Mother of preachers and missionaries, bless our ministry - and each one of us! (FGB)